ABSTRACT This study aims to systematically examine the implementation of the Health Belief Model in influencing health-seeking behaviors within the Black population in the United States, including African Americans and other individuals of African descent, and to evaluate its application as an intervention model for promoting health-related behavioral changes. This research is important because it addresses a critical gap in understanding how theoretical frameworks like the HBM are applied in studies focused specifically on African Americans and African immigrants, offering a more inclusive and intersectional perspective. Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, a total of 221 articles were initially identified across Google Scholar (n = 115), PubMed (n = 49), and ProQuest (n = 57). Of these, 21 peer-reviewed studies met all inclusion criteria. Findings suggest that the HBM offers a robust framework for interpreting individual health perceptions and guiding targeted interventions. However, the review also identifies limitations, including the predominance of cross-sectional designs, geographically limited samples, and insufficient consideration of systemic barriers such as socioeconomic inequities and medical mistrust. This review also offers a rare population-specific synthesis of HBM application across diverse health issues, emphasizing the need for future research to adopt longitudinal designs and integrate motivational and structural models to enhance health outcomes in Black communities.

ABSTRACT This study develops a Critical Environmental Communication (CEC) framework to assess the landscape of Environmental Communication research and to what extent and in which ways critical and justice-oriented perspectives are included. The CEC framework consists of four interconnected themes: (a) Marginalized Ecocultural Identities, (b) Context and Scale, (c) Power and Agency, and (d) Justice, Equity, Diversity, Access, and Inclusion (JEDAI). Using this framework in a bibliometric analysis examining 1,297 Environmental Communication publications, we assess the occurrence of these themes in the scholarship. Our analysis found that Marginalized Ecocultural Identities, and Context and Scale were most frequently occurring, while Power and Agency, and JEDAI occurred less frequently. These findings suggest research directions to create a more inclusive research agenda for Environmental Communication scholarship.

ABSTRACT Exposure to political comedy content has served as a gateway to greater, albeit modest, involvement in the public sphere, encouraging those who would otherwise sit on the sidelines of political life to seek out additional information, participate and engage on key issue debates, and feel better about their own political efficacy, or ability to understand and influence politics. As a textual form, comedy has elevated our deliberative discourse, inspired collective activism and culture jamming, and reshaped our public culture. In 2025, it is no longer clear whether entertaining political content is helping to encourage a more active, responsible, and well-informed citizenry or whether it is simply preaching to the choir, only reaching those who agree with the political orientation of the programming. Does political comedy still have the power to bring us together or does it further separate us into our ideological silos? Focusing on implications and with an eye towards the future of political humor as we begin a new quarter century of media engagement, the research outlines what political comedy needs to do to adapt to continue to play a role in fostering a more engaged, less polarized, and more informed citizenry.

ABSTRACT A systematic review of experimental research on automated journalism was conducted to examine the dominant theoretical and methodological trends across 27 experimental studies from a larger database search (n = 1,523). The analysis revealed that nearly half of coded studies did not include a manipulation check; as a result, half of the published studies did not offer evidence that their manipulation was recalled successfully by participants. A second limitation was that most studies did not justify their desired sample size with a power analysis. The coded literature was internationally diverse, mostly used validated measures for outcome variables, and frequently tested the effects of automation across multiple news topics. Common theoretical frameworks included the MAIN model/machine heuristic and expectation confirmation/violation theory. More than 25 different outcome variables were coded, most of which focused on evaluations of news writing, with a particular emphasis on credibility. Sports and finance news were most commonly tested as the context for automation effects. Mediation analysis was uncommon in the literature, although tests of moderation effects were more common. Directions for future research based on the results of the systematic review are provided.

ABSTRACT Peer review is often cited as essential to maintaining a variety of academic systems, yet it is also considered by many to enforce a system of gatekeeping that permits some voices and excludes others, but this conflict has not been explored within the realm of political communication. We explore the role of peer review and potential gatekeeping within this discipline in this paper by interviewing 26 reviewers in political communication to see how they review papers for journals and conferences. Using an informed, constructivist grounded theory, we analyze the data to identify practices, concepts, and categories to produce a theoretical framework demonstrating reviewers analyze a submission for a multitude of arguments and how those arguments fit into the larger conversation of relevant literature in the field. We conclude by offering translational benefits for authors and reviewers alike.

ABSTRACT This study seeks to better understand Finnish–immigrant relations. It examines the mediating effect of perceived threat on the relationship between ingroup identification and prejudice towards immigrants in Finland. In a sample of 604 Finns, results indicated that the perception of both realistic and symbolic threat from immigrants fully mediated the relationship between ingroup identification and prejudice towards immigrants. This study also discusses the implications of this finding and the opportunities for further research.

ABSTRACT The culture-centered approach (CCA) is now a tried-and-trusted theoretical approach to collaborate with the deepest of margins of our societies, with a commitment to advocating for and creating transformative infrastructures of communication. As a metatheory of critical communication scholarship, the CCA offers a conceptual framework that explores the interplays among power and communicative inequality in shaping the processes of marginalization. In this manuscript, we will explore the ways in which the CCA has critically interrogated the dominant language in Communication Studies over the past two decades, articulating a framework of metacritique. We present six metaconcepts or signposts as invitations to engage with how the CCA advocates a critical reflexive scrutiny of the epistemologies and practices of critical communication theory.

ABSTRACT The study of ignorance has attracted a lot of attention from academics in recent decades, especially in the fields of political science and political communication science, to address social issues and improve decision-making processes. This study provides a summary of the growing body of research that explores the meanings, consequences, and origins of ignorance in relation to larger political and communication contexts. It identifies major themes, methodologies and measurements in the research on ignorance by conducting a scoping review of 119 scientific articles published between 2000 and 2023. Furthermore, this review underscores implications for policy-making, educational strategies, and public awareness initiatives, particularly considering contemporary phenomena, such as misinformation, cognitive biases and proliferation of conspiracy theories, which have amplified challenges related to ignorance and information dissemination. It concludes by advocating for more longitudinal studies, critical examination of normative assumptions underlying ignorance studies, and analysis of power structures perpetuating ignorance.

ABSTRACT This study investigates the interdisciplinary approach scientists took to study Amazon’s Alexa in the initial phase of its diffusion, based on a systematic review of research spanning six years (2017–2022). We examined the scope and diversity of the first authors and their methodological strategies across 180 selected studies from fields like communication, information science, health, and engineering. The findings reveal a robust interdisciplinary engagement with Alexa, a predominant male authorship with significant U.S., Indian, and German contributions, and a project-based focus in most studies. These studies covered nine thematic categories, with legal issues, usability, health, and family applications being the most frequent. This research sketches the scientific community’s effort to understand Alexa and suggests future explorations into its role in the media landscape.